The Aftermath  After the Fall of Teppelin
by Mogtaki
Summary: A month after the final battle, humans have come to the surface in high hopes that they can start a new life away from the fears and terrors of possible attacks. Two young humans roam the ruins; however, they find one veteran many suspected to be dead.


**Since nobody has really explored the story between the Beastman arc and the Anti-Spiral arc, I thought I'd take it upon myself to write up something in my own words. Nothing big, just knew I could find some interesting stuff I could write about that was never fully explored.**

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><p><em><strong>The Aftermath<strong>_

It was over; all that fighting and containing a potentially destructive and inferior species, the struggle all for nought once the capital had fallen, dooming the opposing forces defending what was now destroyed. There were always losers on one side of the war, only this loser had been left to wallow in the pain of defeat under a mass of rubble with an immortal body.

The Battle of Teppelin had taken seven days, all lost in just the space of one long struggle on the last day. While the battle had been won for the humans, the Beastmen were left fragmented and lost without a leader with many given mercy by the humans while others continued to rebel. It had been an entire month since the final victory for the humans, an entire month the immortal Viral had spent trapped and unable to move.

The hero, Simon the Digger, didn't make a move to help Viral, but of course who would help an enemy with a lot of human blood on his hands? The last Viral had seen of Simon was when Teppelin began to topple, shortly after the Spiral King plummeted to the earth. He was last left pinned down by his own precious Enkidudu, his arms trapped in its twisted metal as he too fell to the earth; an entire month he had been trapped, ton after ton of twisted debris crushing him constantly without hope of budging. What a depressing immortal existence this had turned out to be, such a weight being all too great for the constantly injured Beastman. While his injuries healed incredibly quickly compared to any other being on the planet, they couldn't heal fully while trapped under a mass of rubble that continued to pierce his limbs within an eternal prison.

Viral was a doomed creature, never to know the light of day again for all he knew. His comrades were all dead, his creator and King dead; his existence forgotten.

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><p>The sound of children playing in their new founded freedom was never far away on the surface, the sun providing an all new shade to their pale skin as they played among the ruins of Teppelin. Unknown to them, the massive battle had left many casualties, both human and Beastman; at the end of the day, the humans were playing and building on the graves of many beings, whether artificial or not. The massive graveyard was not yet on the way to be converted into the new capital city of the surface with the only humans wandering the ruins being a series of curious people, looters and those wishing to take in the glory that was removed from the Beastmen and given to the humans in this historic site. Team Dai-Gurren had long since moved on to the various settlements around the earth to tell the most isolated of humans of the glory they stole and to invite those humans to the surface to take in the light of the sun without a glimpse of fear in their eyes. It wasn't only humans that wandered the ruins, but Beastmen had taken up temporary camp after surrendering as well. These Beastmen wandered with broken spirits, their minds barely able to comprehend how low they had sunk as many still tended to the wounded. For all that it was worth; the humans in the area had given the ones who remained sanctuary in exchange for their help rebuilding the lives of those affected by the disastrous yet greatest event in known history.<p>

The massive columns of the once supreme city of Teppelin littered the battlefield still, the humans roaming with new-founded technology exchanged between dwellings and weapons brought as gifts for protection. While there were still some humans who kept their Gunmen that could had once been considered stolen, many of the Gunmen were stripped and used as crafting materials while the rest were used as heavy lifters. A couple of young humans bounced around in amongst the ruins, one a bright-eyed black haired boy carrying a travel pack while a smaller long blonde haired girl followed on with a scanner. They were both in their early teenage years, but compared to the other people of the camp, they were still considered children and too immature to handle the heavier duties. All the children of the camp had been tasked to search for animals for their dinner tonight when, in reality, their parents only wanted them out of the way as they negotiated with a couple of disgruntled Beastmen who saw fit to take the best spot for their own camp.

Wandering around and clambering across rubble, the youngsters chased after little creatures with the boy catching hold of one before the girl could see it.

"Aria! Aria, look! LOOK!" the young boy exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement as he held up a lizard-like creature by its tail.

"Eww! Gross! How did you catch THAT?" the girl exclaimed, the one named Aria that the boy was so enthusiastic to show the lizard to. She stared at it, giving it a poke as it wriggled about, "It's so weird…think it's edible?"

Just as the girl questioned its palatability, the little lizard dropped to the ground and scurried away, leaving its wriggly tail in the boy's grasp. Both of them screamed such a high pitched squeal that even the heavens could hear, the little now tailless lizard scurrying across the cracked debris. The youngsters giggled, followed by another squeal from Aria as the boy consumed the lizard's tail, "Ewww gross! Ed!" Aria squealed, shoving the boy as he giggled his head off before his attention was taken to the fleeing lizard.

"Look! Dinner is leaving!" Ed exclaimed, bouncing after it, Aria following after him in excitement.

The little lizard ran for its life, the young teenagers hot on its trail as it searched for a suitable retreat. It darted passed turned up pipes, slithered around metallic plates and bounced up a large unstable heap. The children were having a great time bouncing on after it, seeing it as their challenge to chase the strange little creature. They climbed up the rubble, the boy Ed assisting the girl Aria to the top as she grasped on tight to their little gadget. Such excitement they were experiencing as they played; however, that all stopped when Aria froze on the spot as Ed helped her up over a mound, "…Uhhh, E-Ed…?"

"What? What is-…woahhhh…" Ed turned around, his eyes greeted by a massive metallic-green hand. The hand was nearly completely destroyed, completely detached with its silvery remains strewn across the mound. It was incredible for such bright eyes to see; it was like looking at the remnants of a possible fight, like the skeleton of the defeated.

"…Think there's a dead body in there…?" Aria asked as she turned to Ed's bewildered expression. It was truly fantastic for a first time surface roamer to see remains like this, even if there was still a lot of Gunmen still lying around, at least a lot of those were still intact.

"W-What? No! I-…maybe. But we shouldn't-!"

"Don't be such a wuss! C'mon!" Aria giggled, climbing up onto the mound and pulling Ed by the hand. The mass of twisted metal was deep and unstable, probably not the best mound to be walking on as an amateur climber; however, it was the most interesting thing that wasn't bits and pieces of building or already pulled apart Gunmen. The remains were still deep, the sizes of Gunmen proving all too real for these kids when this was just part of one with most of it still underground. From the mound, they gazed up into the sky, the massive fallen Gunman once known as the city of Teppelin towering over them, "This is…amazing…"

"Isn't this where the last battle took place? Look! Look, the lizard!" Ed called out suddenly, running off towards the little tailless creature as it scurried away, "Maybe it's leading us to its colony! It was so tasty…"

Aria watched as Ed ran across the piles of rubble, her hand immediately reaching up, "No, wait! Ed! It doesn't look stable! Ed!" she called out, running on after him and climbing over the piles, each piece of platform shifting under her feet as she scurried to catch up with him.

Ed laughed, looking back at her, "Aria! Didn't you say 'don't be such a wuss'? You should follow up on your own wo-ah!" Aria was right; soon enough the ground was shifting under his feet and one half of a platform began to slide away with him, sending him sliding down the hill screaming his head off.

"Ed! Come back!" Aria immediately took off across the piles, the sound of Ed screeching down the hill on a metal board echoing across the valley; however, Aria should had been watching where she was heading and not the sound of Ed's voice. Her skinny frame took a sudden drop, the panel revealing more than what the rubble appeared to be. She dropped her device, her body suddenly tumbling down a narrow tunnel. The drop felt like forever as she slipped over more metal, the fall taking her a good ten feet before she felt a bump, sliding down even further into a little pocket before landing on something softer than metal.

The fall was an awkward one, but she was still alive. Aria was small enough to withstand a great deal of damage from the sudden bumps and managed to narrowly escape a few sharp objects on the way. She let out a moan, slowly sitting up from her spot, "Owww…ow, oww…w-where…?" She couldn't see much, but luckily she could see daylight from where she was; however, that daylight was a good long climb back up.

While Ed had gone for a bit of a slide, it didn't stop him from climbing back up again after his own topple. He was suffering from a bad case of sore backside down and a bit of a sore face after face-planting. He cautiously peered over the rubble, looking around with a worried expression on his face, "A-Aria…? Aria! Hey! Where are you?"

Aria let out a groan, calling back up, "I'm okay! I'm down a hole!" she spoke calmly, slowly trying to stand up, "Can you pass me the rope? I think I hurt-…hurt my…"

Something made a noise and moved beneath her feet, her body suddenly freezing on the spot. Slowly, she turned her head, her eyes slowly gazing down until they met the gaze of one yellow, bright cat-like eye staring right back at her.

She screamed.

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><p><strong>To Be Continued.<strong>


End file.
